-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Roger Ebert got a final `` thumbs up '' as family , friends and filmmakers eulogized the movie critic at his funeral in Chicago on Monday .

Hundreds gathered inside Chicago 's Holy Name Cathedral , but many more watched the live telecast of the service carried by local stations and streamed online .

It is a production his widow , Chaz Ebert , said would get a good review from the late critic .

`` He would have loved this , '' she said . `` He would love the majesty of it , he would love everything about it , he would love that you were all here for him , he would have loved everything the priests did . ''

Although he 's known for reviewing films , his widow spoke about his passion for social justice .

`` He really was a soldier for social justice , and it did n't matter to him your race , creed , color , level of ability , sexual orientation -- he had a heart big enough to love and accept all , '' she said .

Fellow critic Richard Roeper served as one of the pallbearers , carrying Ebert 's casket into the cathedral , where dignitaries waited , including Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel .

`` He was the most American of American critics in the most American of American cities , '' Emanuel said in his eulogy . `` It was in Chicago where Roger kept his home , where he kept his heart and where he found his inspiration . ''

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Ebert reviewed movies for the Chicago Sun Times starting in 1967 , leading to success with his syndicated column and iconic television show `` Siskel and Ebert At The Movies ''

`` He did n't just dominate his profession , he defined it , '' Emanuel said . `` LIke generations of Chicagoans , before I went to a movie I needed to find out two things : What time does it start and what does Roger think about it ? Roger spent a lot of his time sitting through bad movies so that we did n't have to . No good movie is too long and no bad movie is too short , he wrote . ''

Ebert died last Thursday after a long batter with cancer .

`` Life was too short for Roger to be defeated by illness , so when Roger 's body became weak , we saw how his mind become sharper , '' Emanuel said . `` Roger did not chose cancer . He did chose his response to it : To keep living . Rather than allow his struggle to separate himself from his readers , it became another way for Roger to relate to us . With every one of his reviews , his TV appearances , his tweets , Roger shared with us one lesson : Life is too short not to be shared with others . ''

Ebert 's last year was his most productive with 306 movie reviews , compared to the normal 200 a year .

`` His time with us was too short , but what he shared with us endures , '' Emanuel said . `` The final reel of Roger 's life may have run to the end , but his memory will never fade . ''

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Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn said Ebert was `` a populist who understood that it 's the duty of all of us to take good care of those who do n't have a champion . ''

`` We love you Roger , we always will . Thumbs up ! '' Gov. Quinn said at the end .

Jonathan Jackson , son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson , Sr. , spoke about the impact Ebert 's reviews of black-directed films such as Spike Lee 's `` School Daze '' and `` Do the Right Thing '' had on society .

`` I look at Roger as a soldier with a pen when he sat on a high perch and gave a commentary and opinion that depicted us as human , that showed us as normal in ` School Daze , ' '' Jackson said . `` He saw young black children not as problems , but as people . ''

Jackson also read a message from Spike Lee : `` Roger Ebert was a champion of my work and other black filmmakers at a critical time in American cinema history , Roger was one of the lone defenders of ` Do the Right Thing ' when everybody else and their mothers were saying that black folks would run amok and riot during the summer of 1989 . Roger fought the good fight . Roger fought the power . ''

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Former Chicago Sun Times Editor John Barron , who was Ebert 's boss for many years , said Ebert understood the changing newspaper business .

`` Roger was pretty much the first with a computer , '' Barron said . `` He was the first with e-mail . He opened up whole new worlds with his blog and his Twitter account . Roger was 24-7 before anyone had even thought about that term . While we were all still focused on making the nightly deadline , Roger was showing us what a fully evolved newspaper man look liked . He taught us a lot and we at the Sun Times were always proud to say we worked where Roger Ebert worked . The glow that he cast was warm and wide . ''

Ebert 's stepdaughter Sonia Evans spoke about Ebert the father .

`` He 's the man whom we deeply loved -- kind sincere warm , loving , intelligent , imaginative , transformative and just a world-class human being who exercised his gift for the world . ''

`` I 'm the happiest when I think of how he and my mother found each other , '' she said .

Appreciation for Ebert , the everyman 's movie critic

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`` He would have loved this , '' Ebert 's widow says at his funeral

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`` He did n't just dominate his profession , '' he defined it , Chicago 's mayor says

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`` We love you Roger , we always will . Thumbs up ! '' Illinois Gov. Quinn says

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Film Critic Roger Ebert died last week after a battle with cancer